Racine County, Wisconsin - Chapter 16: Saving Food to Win the War, 1920

Chapter 16: Saving Food to Win the War

THERE was no more interesting feature of civilian war work than the almost unanimous efforts of American citizens to conserve the food supply of the nation, so our army abroad and the inhabitants of Allied nations could be fed. "Saving Food Will Win the War," was one of the earliest of war-time slogans, and while it could not be tenned the sole cause of winning the war it unquestionably proved one of the important factors in the ultimate victory. Soldiers can and often do fight without adequate aiTns and ammunition; patriots will "carry on" while clad in rags and tatters, but no army can fight and no nation can support its armed forces if starvation stalks in its midst.

France was nearly self-supporting as to food. Italy needed to import a great deal of wheat. England depended almost entirely upon the outside world for her sustenance, and the submarine campaign had cut off her maritime connections with her colonies. The vast wheat fields of Russia were of no use to the rest of the world with Turkey holding the Dardanelles. An unexpectedly large proportion of the world's tonnage was being used for naval and transport purposes, and to carry munitions of war. In addition to the needs of the Allied peoples, America was sending hundreds of thousands of men overseas who must depend upon their own country for their food. To make conditions more serious, the United States and Canada both suffered from very short crops in 1917.

To meet this situation, the co-operation of every man, woman and child was asked, and government representatives were appointed in every county to advise them what was expected of them. Few laws were passed, and the arbitrary powers given the Food Administrators of nation, state and county were seldom needed. As in other matters affecting the war, public sentiment proved moi'e efficient in obtaining results than all the laws that could have been placed upon the statute books.

William T. Hai-vey was County Food Administrator for Racine county. He gave his sei-vices voluntarily and for more than a year devoted practically all of his time, without remuneration, to the task. He was ably assisted by his wife, Mrs. Jane B. Hai-vey, who transacted most of the correspondence and devoted many hours each day to planning oi'ganization and detail work.

When the drastic regulations were first published, there was more or less good-natured grumbling. It took some time to get used to such things as coming into a town after a long auto ride and stepping into a re.staurant with the intention of devouring a huge steak and a generous dessert, only to be informed that it was a meatless day, and that desserts were taboo, and each customer could have but one spoonful of sugar. But like everything else, it soon became a matter of course and "food slackers" who sought to evade the government i-ules were scorned by their more patriotic neighbors.

One of the problems arising was that of the right of a fanner to use all the white flour he wanted, inasmuch as he himself had raised wheat. The Food Administration i-uled that the person producing food should not be exempted from the rules which others were expected to obey. One of the farmers protested to Mr. Han"ey one day, and said that inasmuch as he had raised a large crop of wheat he should not be required to sell any more of it than he wished, and he should be allowed to have it made into any kind of flour he wanted for himself and family.

"See here," answered Mr. Harvey, "your next door neighbor raised a boy, and the government took him into the anny. Lsn't it fair that the government should also take as much of your wheat as it deems necessary in order to feed that boy? Especially when you are being paid a good price and are not asked to starve yourself?"

"You are right," he said. "I never thought of it that way before. You will never hear another kick from me on any i-ule the government makes." And he became one of the active workers in spreading the "Save Food" propaganda.

A Racine physician was inclined to assist people who asked permission to use more wheat flour than the government allowance, by declaring that it wa? necessary for their health. Mr. Haivey obtained written opinions from half a dozen leading doctors to the effect that oat meal bread, com meal and even the detested barley bread was more healthful than bread made of fine patent flour. This fact was publi.shed, and people were warned not to try to circumvent the law by such subterfuges. The trick was never tried again and the abashed physician retired into his shell for the period of the war.

From the very start of hostilities, the sei-^'- ing of a fourth meal in the afternoon or late at night was discontinued. If banquets were to be held, they were limited to plain food and were served at such a time as to replace a regular meal. Cakes and pastry became rare sights, and fancy frostings requiring considerable sugar almost disappeared entirely for many months.

The Food Administration's work was notable because it proved so entirely successful; it was the first time that anything of a similar nature had been attempted in America, and because more than any other one thing it touched the lives of every individual in the United States.

Eligible young men might escape army service; women might neglect to do their part for the Red Cross or other organizations; wealthy people could "get by" without buying Liberty bonds, under certain conditions, but there was no one who could fail to feel the strong hand of a free and democratic government upon them when every meal contained some reminder of the work of the Food Administration, and when gold itself could not give them any advantage over their neighbors when they tried to obtain a better quality or a greater quantity of certain staple food products.

There was never any attempt to get the American people to cut down their food to the point where there was any real discomfort. It was felt that the greater part of the people actually were in the habit of over-eating and sen-ing food wastefully. All that was asked was that waste be eliminated, that meals be prepared in a simple and inexpensive manner and that substitutes be used for those

Congress passed the Food Act on August 10, 1917. In this law, the President was given autocratic power over the food supply of the whole country. Herbert Hoover was made Federal Food Administrator on August 17. His experience in Belgium made him the logical man for this great responsibility. It was evident that the available food resources of the world were going to be less than the requirement: that America must provide not only for her own people, but also for much of Europe.

Further, it was foreseen that as the demand became greater than the supply, prices would advance to a point where the laboring people would be unable to obtain sufficient food without tremendous advance in wages. Prior to the passage of the food act, flour was selling at $18.00 to $20.00 per barrel retail. Congress fixed the price of the 1918 wheat crop at $2.20 per bushel and limited the profit of the millers^ wholesalers and retailers of flour. Under this arrangement, flour sold at $12.00 to $14.00 a barrel. This plan was later extended to the 1919 wheat crop and the price of flour was in this way stabilized for the period of the war and a year or more thereafter.

To encourage production, the farmers were urged to do everything possible to produce more wheat and com, oats, sugar beets, beef, pork, poultry, eggs and daily products.

The respon.se to these appeals was so great that 1918 crops were record breakers. The wheat crop of the United States for 1918 was 918,000,000 bushels, or nearly fifty per cent greater than 1917.

Racine County had raised very little wheat for many years, but the spring of 1918 saw at least a few acres of wheat on every faiTn. Many fields averaged over 40 bushels per acre and the total production for the countiy was estimated at forty thousand bushels. Back yards and vacant lots were converted into vegetable gardens which furnished a large amount of food and enabled every family to save on the wheat, meat, fats and sugar which were needed for the amiies in the field.

While the people of the country at large are entitled to great credit for tlie unanimous response to the appeal of the food administration for the large production of food, we must also give credit to Providence for favorable weather conditions throughout the season.

In assuming control of the distribution of food, the Food Administration issued licenses to all manufacturers of food and to all wholesale dealers in food. No manufacturer or dealer was permitted to charge more than a reasonable profit over the cost price of food products. This was done to prevent them from taking advantage of the food shortage and did much to steady the market.

These concerns were required to make monthly ]-eports showing the cost of their goods and also their selling prices. In addition to this, inspectors were sent out by the Food Administration to check them up.

The retail dealers were not licensed but in cases where they did not comply with the rules of the Food Administration, the wholesalers were notified to sell them no more goods and in this way it was possible to control them.

Racine County food dealers, with few exceptions, showed a fine spirit all through the war period. In only two cases were dealers asked to contribute §25.00 to the Red Cross, as a penalty for overcharging for fiour in one case and for selling canning sugar without a permit in another case.

In order to control prices of all food stuffs, dealei-s both wholesale and retail, were permitted to charge only a reasonable percentage of profit over their cost prices. The profits on such staples as flour, sugar and coffee are always much less than on luxuries. The prewar basis of profit on any item of food was acceptable to the Food Administration. If a grocer had a big stock of canned salmon bought at a low price he had to give his customers the benefit of his purchase. Racine County, like all other counties, had a "Fair Price Committee," composed of the following: W. T. Hai-vey, Chaimian, John Wiechers, Fred Radewan, Jens Jensen, Clarence R. Nevin, Chas. Christensen, Chris Sorenson, Frank Luxem, Jos. Otradovec, Lester Bowman. George Black, Sidney Mikulecky, J. K. Evans, Stewart Chamberlain, Wm. Eric and Percy Conroe. These men met faithfully once or twice a week for the entire year of 1918 and adopted a price list for the more staple lines of food. These prices were published in the local papers and served as a guide to prevent profiteering.

voluntary conservation or rationing the people He saw that rationing would be a tremendous task, requiring a large force of inspectors and decided that he would appeal to the patriotism of the people to conserve the essential foods. To accomplish this, a great publicity campaign was necessary and the first great effort was the distribution of twenty million home pledge cards.

These cards appealed to the housewives of the country to conserve food in every possible way. They provided for wheatless and meatless days in each week and also one wheatless and meatless meal each day. Every housewife, boarding house, restaurant and hotel proprietor was asked to sign a pledge card to help save the food that was necessarj to win the war.

The co-operation of the people of the country was so hearty that in a few months it was possible to release some of the meat i-estrictions, as the farmers and packers complained that meat was not being consumed as fast as it was being produced and transportation facilities were not adequate to carry the surplus to Europe.

Our wheat crop of 1917 was only 62.5.000,000 bushels: bai-ely enough for our o\^m requirements and for seed. In spite of this fact we sent large quantities to Europe and our people used the wheat substitutes, viz: - corn, barley, rice, oats, etc., during the first half of 1918. In December, 1917, the Food Administration decided upon what was known as the "snbstitute rule" requiring that, for everv pound of wheat flour purchased, the dealer nnKt s^ll and the buyer must take one pound cf substitute consisting of corn meal, corn flour, bai-ley flour, oatmeal, rice, etc. This was done to compel everyone to share alike, in the use of wheat and of the substitutes. This rule was kept in force until the 1918 wheat crop was ready for the market. Had it not been for the wide use of these substitutes, the wheat supply of the country would have been entirely exhausted early in 1918.

This substitute rule pi'obably aroused more complaint on the part of the selfish and unpatriotic than any other restriction. They complained that their stomachs w-ere weak and that white bread was the only bread they could eat. Nothing short of a doctor's certificate was sufficient to enable them to get wheat flour without a substitute. One woman living in a fine home just outside the city was reported to have a considerable amount of white flour stored away. When ask to repoi-t, she admitted that she had about 100 lbs., while

25 lbs. was the maximum any one could have at that time. As an excuse she claimed that her hired man didn't eat anything but white bread. She had 10 lbs. of cornmeal and was asked to donate all but 10 lbs. of her white flour to the hospitals and then get herself and servants on the half wheat, half substitute ration.

All the best hotels and dining cars pledged themselves voluntarily, to use no wheat during the period of the shortage. Rye bread, corn muffins and Johnny cakes were used in place of wheat bread.

Flour was milled in one grade and the mills had to make 74 lbs. of flour for every 100 lbs. of wheat - the other 26 lbs. being middlings and bran for cattle.

The bakers were required to make bread out of 75 per cent wheat flour and 25 per cent substitutes. In order to compel a uniform observance of this rule the bakers organized in every county and elected one of their number "captain." O. B. Schulz was captain of the Racine County bakers. Monthly meetings were held and methods of making good bread wath the required amount of substitutes were developed. The most palatable substitutes were corn starch, corn flour, rice flour and oat meal. Barley flour was the most unpopular.

In the spring- of 1918 we were almost at the bottom of the wheat bins. Farmers were notified to bring in all wheat left after seeding, and no one was allowed to feed wheat to stock or poultry. Fortunately the 1918 crop ripened early and an abundant supply was available from the Southern harvest fields by mid-sur.- mer.

In the early part of 1918 the supply of sugar was short of the requirements. Prior to this time, the Food Administration had urged constant conservation of sugar and had made very strong rules regarding the hoarding of sugar. The people were requested to buy not more than five pounds at one time in the city and ten pounds in the country. This method of voluntary conservation would doubtless have pioved sufl'icient had it not been for the sudden appearance of German submarine boats on the west side of the Atlantic and the sinking of a considerable number of ships carrying sugar from the West Indies.

oi'ders to all dealers that they must sell only three pounds of sugar for each person per month. Later this was reduced to 2 lbs. per month. The retail merchants were compelled to file statements of the amount of sugar bought the previous year and were allowed only fifty per cent of this amount. In addition to this, they were required to keep "a sugar book" and make a record of every sale of sugar. The merchants were further required to sell only to their regular customers and inasmuch as they had a limited supply it was necessary for them to comply with this rule.

The candy factories, pop and soft drink factories were allowed only fifty per cent of their former sugar supply. Factories preserving food for future use were allowed their full requirements.

Housewives requiring sugar for canning had to obtain permits from the County Food Administrator or his deputy and they had to pledge themselves to use the sugar, so obtained, for canning or preserving purposes. At the beginning, the limit was placed at t^venty-flve pounds which a housewife could purchase at one time for canning purposes. This was later reduced to ten pounds, but additional ten pound lots could be obtained provided the applicant produced satisfactory evidence that she had no sugar on hand and needed more sugar for canning purposes.

In order to carry out this work, fifty women deputies wore appointed throughout the County who were authorized to issue permits to buy canning sugar. The work of these sugar deputies was one of the outstanding features of the food administration work of this county.

It was a serious problem to distribute the shoi't supply of sugar so that every family could get a reasonable supply for canning. The grocers were permitted to sell each family on their regular list of customers one-half pound for each person per week for table use and cooking. To get sugar for canning the pui'chaser had to obtain a signed permit from one of the sugar deputies. These permits were all returned each week to the County Food Administrator's office by the grocers. Here they were filed and anyone who tried to get more than a fair amount was notified to repoit and explain.

The County Food Administi'ation had autocratic power in such cases and where it was evident that anyone had misrepresented the facts to get sugar he or she was requested to make a donation of $10 or $25 to the Red Cross.

cause the people generally realized that we were in the midst of a terrible war, and that it was just as necessary for those at home to do their part as it was for the armies in the field to obey orders.

During all this time of sugar shortage, the price was maintained at 9 and 91/2 cents per pound. Had there been no restrictions sugar would have undoubtedly sold for twenty-five to thirty cents per pound, and those who needed it most would have been unable to secure sufficient supply. In fact, after the war the price rose to 20 cents a pound within a year.

The work of the United States Food Administration was cai'ried on entirely by voluntary service. There was a Federal Food Administrator in each State and there was also a County Administrator in each County.

The County Administrator, Mr. Harvey, had jurisdiction over all grocery stores, bakeries, meat mai'kets and public eating houses. It was necessary to hold frequent meetings of grocers, bakers and the proprietors of hotels, restaurants and boarding houses to keep them all informed of the rulings of the Food Administration. The co-operation of the people at large was hearty and it was rare that anyone resented any of the food rules. In case of objection, an explanation of what the Food Administration was doing, was usually sufficient to enlist the support of the objector.

A county committee consisting of County Food Administrator W. T. Harvey, County Agent E. S. Polley of Rochester, and H. M. Thomas of the Case T. M. Co. held a meeting of the threshermen in June and instructed them fully on the rules of the Food Administration. Later this committee inspected as many of the machines in operation as possible.

Herbert Hoover's decision to appeal to the people of the United States to do their part in the production and conservation of food and their response to this appeal will always be one of the glories of the great war. The nation produced moi-e, prices were maintained on staples such as flour and sugar at reasonable figures; food was distributed fairly, so that no one had to go without, and the people conserved so well that they were able to spare

The various women's organizations gave hearty co-operation to Mr. Harvey throughout his administration. Housewives everywhere exercised the greatest ingenuity in planning meals so as to conserve food.

The Home Economics Department of the Woman's Committee of the Council of Defense, for example, bought and canned 300 lbs. of beans when, through a shortage of labor, it was feared many beans would be wasted. The work was done by the girls and teachers of the Vocational school, supervised by Miss Elizabeth Fratt. This furnished a valuable canning lesson to over .500 girls. By the efforts of Miss Elizabeth Hood, her corps of teachers and the gii'ls of the High School, 1000 quarts of fruit and vegetables were canned. Five hundred glasses of jelly and many bottles of fruit juices were made. The jelly was made with part syrup to save sugar.

The materials were furnished by the women of the community who were too busy with war work to do their own pi'eserving. One quart from every twelve was kept by the department for the work done.

A group of twenty volunteer workers trained under Miss Helen Henderson, Home Demonstration Agent, demonstrated the use of substitute floxirs - the making of sugarless cakes, etc., and canning by the "cold pack" method throughout the County. Also demonstrations were held in evei'y school in Racine, once a week.

Twenty thousand pamphlets and bulletins were distributed to interest women. This literature was obtained by Miss Helen Gorton of the Public Library,- who acted as librarian for this department of the Food Administration.

Three Conservation shows were held, at which the fruits and vegetables canned by the High School and Vocational School students were sold. Demonstrations of economical dishes were given by women of various nationalities, such as how to make Bohemian breads, eighty ways of preparing Italian spaghetti, etc., as well as demonstrations of wheatless breads and sugarless cakes.

Invaluable service was rendered by the Gii'ls' Motor Corps of the Woman's Committee, carrying baskets of materials, demonstrators and bulletins to their destinations. The honorary member, Edward Stormer, 12 years

The sugar deputies were selected by the Woman's Committee, and their names appeal in the chapter devoted to that organization. Mrs. E. J. Stormer was chairman of the Home Economics division and as such had charge of the important work of planning for co-operation between the public and the Food Administration.

By July, 1918, most of the rulings of the Food Administration had become thoroughly understood by all, but there was a great amount of detail work in connection with the County Administrator's office. To take care of the many questions coming up, Mr. Hai'vey appointed Walter Uebele and Walter Keebler deputies for Burlington, and John Gittings and A. S. Titus for Union Grove and Waterford, respectively. Miss Louise Bolton volunteered her services in the main office, and she assisted Mr. and Mrs. Harvey for the remainder of the year. Mr. Harvey had turned one oT the rooms in his residence into an office, and from 6 o'clock in the morning until 9 or 10 o'clock at night there was an almost endless series of visitors and telephone requests for information and instructions. The correspondence alone occupied several hours of the da> for Mrs. Harvey and Miss Bolton.

The requirement that a merchant must show his record of sugar purchases for the previous year before he could buy his supply for 1918 caused much excitement for it developed that many of the smaller storekeepers had kept no records. They were in the habit of buying a few bags as they needed them, paying cash and destroying the receipt. Mr. Harvey had to use his judgment regarding the amount required by them.

The deputies had many funny experiences. One had had to give a bit of a lecture to a woman who had declined to hang a food pledge window insignia in the window, because she thought it was not an artistic decoration. She was given one of these as well as the card of instruction to hang in the kitchen and told that the government wanted all patriotic women to display the emblem. She agreed. A few days later the deputy was standing in front of the house, which was on a corner, and noticed that both the emblem and the kitchen card were in the front window. The deputy had been waiting for a friend, and when the latter caught up they walked around the corner. To her surprise she saw the two cards in the side window. Her curiosity was aroused sufficiently so that she went back after a few minutes, and found that the front window was empty. Apparently the lady of the house had wanted to be sure that the deputy knew she was obeying' the letter of the law, if not its spirit.

The canning-sugar regulations caused a great deal of labor in the food administrator's office. Record was kept of the names of all purchasers of sugar, together with the amounts received. There were many thousands of these cards. Several school teachers donated their time in spare hours to help keep these accounts. They were the only means possible for finding "repeaters."

One housewife applied for a third 25-lb. lot of sugar. The sugar deputy thought that the number of glasses of jelly reported as made ought to be enough for the winter. The applicant appealed to Mr. Harvey, who said that he agreed vfiih the deputy.

"You can't eat more than that amount of jelly," he said. "That should last all \\antei-." "All winter!" she exclaimed. "Why it's almost all gone now. We like it fresh!"

She then learned to her surprise that the sugar rationing was not for the purpose of providing tempting morsels at the time, but to aid in preserving the food supply until later.

As a rule, the poorer families and the foreign element of the population caused but little trouble and obeyed the regulations without a murmur. Most of the violations were the acts of owners of automobiles, who could go from store to store and even town to town and establish their trade sufficiently to get a few extra pounds of sugar. One family was showTi to be buying sugar in three counties^Racine, Walworth and Kenosha. When the three County Food Administrators got on their trail it proved to be pretty expensive sugar.

A woman who was quite prominent in war work was found to be buying sugar from a store, although she boarded out. A letter was sent to her asking that she call at Mr. Harvey's office. She ignored it. A few days later Mrs. Harvey was surprised to see her come briskly up to the door and knock. Upon being admitted, she said she was soliciting funds for some patriotic scheme and wanted a donation for the cause. Mrs. Harvey said, "I will speak to Mr. Harvey." The visitor gasped and said, "Does Mr. Harvey live here? Oh I thought this was someone else's house." And she beat a hasty retreat. A second letter mailed that day brought her to the office again, when she reluctantly admitted that she had been getting extra sugar to cari'y to the boarding' house table, as she and her husband liked plenty of it with their meals. She later contributed the value of the sugar to the Red Cross, by request.

A baker whose report showed that he had not been using the proper amounts of substitutes for flour was asked for an explanation. He sent by mail a statement that the recipe he had would not make bread, and enclosed as evidence a loaf so hard that it could not be nicked with a butcher knife. He said he had tried to feed it to his chickens, but they could get no nourishment from that batch of bread. Mr. Harvey found a new formula for him which produced a more edible form of bread and pardoned the first offense.

The Home Economics department of the Woman's Committee gave valuable assistance to the F'ood Administration. Mrs. E. E. Stormer was chairman, and the advisory committee' was composed of Mrs. Stormer, Mrs. John F. Clancy and Mrs. H. M. Wallis. A group of members, consisting of Mrs. Anna Prostrednik, Mrs. Raffoni, Mrs. Polk, Mrs. Harry Mann, Mrs. Bullis and Mrs. Zagora volunteered to demonstrate a number of economical foreign dishes at the domestic science kitchens of the schools. They accomplished such feats as preparing macaroni in eighty different ways; serving- burdock stems so that they I'esembled asparagus; baking Bohemian bread, etc. In October, 1917, a War Garden exhibit was held at the Commercial club rooms under direction of the Council of Defense. Mrs. Clancy had charge of the daily cooking demonstrations there. Among the exhibits at that show was a single barrel filled with earth in which nearly a bushel of potatoes had been produced.

There were numerous women volunteers who went wherever asked to demonstrate the use of wheat substitutes. Among these were Mrs. Angus R. Callender, Mrs. Edward Hoernel, Mrs. Louis Hahn, Mrs. George Kettelson, Mrs. George Lynch, Mrs. F. B. Stafford, Mrs. F. A. Kamerer, Miss Angela Hegnei', Mrs. H. J. Cadwell, Mrs. P. H. Connolly, Miss Margaret Rohan and Mrs. A. G. Miller.

A woman who had been watching a demonstrator in a downtown store was much interested and said she would like to do that work. She was told to get in touch with Mrs. Stormer, who told her where she could take a week's course of intensive training. She did this, and provided herself with the uniform apron used by demonstrator.s, and then at her request was told where to go to address a meeting the next day. At that point she asked about the amount

"Good night!" she exclaimed. "Do you think I am going to do this kind of woi-k for nothing?" And she swept out of the place while the other volunteers looked on in astonishment. The instructors had taken it for granted that she understood the situation and were as much surprised as she was at the climax.

Women who were skillful cooks cheerfully gave their services as instructors in preparing and preserving foodstuffs. Teachers in domestic science were especially in demand and most of them devoted all their spare hours to this task. Miss Alice Brown of the staff of the County Agricultural school at Rochester was one of the most active of these, and travelled from one end of the county to the other for many weeks, demonstrating the "cold pack" method of preserving, and other devices for canning food cheaply and effectively.

Never in all history was so much canning done in any country. Every fruit and vegetable not required for table use was "put down" for the winter. If sugar was not available for making jelly, the fruit juice was kept in airtight jars until the sugar could be obtained. Sweet corn was parched. String beans and beets were canned by the bushel in most homes. Root cellars were constructed and used. Stated briefly, each household tried to put itself upon a basis which would not require the purchase of canned goods imported from other parts of the country. The wild nut crops were carefully saved. Pumpkins were not used for Hallowe'en celebrations. Home grown apples replaced fancy southei'n and imported fruits. Public markets were established to enable farmers to dispose quickly of their products, and housewives to obtain them while they were still in first-class condition.

Besides raising some wheat, every farmer was asked to raise some sugar beets to help reduce the sugar shortage. Every foot of tillable land was expected to be used to produce food or forage.

It was the custom of Mr. Harvey, the County Food Administi'ator, to provide the newspapers every day with a list of fair prices for staple products, and it was urged that all citizens refuse to pay more than these amounts. Examination of these shows that despite the shortage of food throughout the world, the prices in Racine during the war were maintained at much lower figures than in the period following the signing of the armistice. The following is the price list published on April

Oatmeal

All hotels and restaurants co-operated with the Food Administration and although it was feared at first that measures might have to be adopted to force compliance with the rules, experience showed that public eating houses actually met the requirements of the government more promptly than many private citizens. The fact that they did so was of great assistance to- the Food Administration and not only helped to advertise the regulations regarding food but prevented people from evading the rules meant for homes by going to restaurants to eat. It probably will prove of interest to people of future generations to read one of the summaries of general orders issued to restaurants, and carried out by them to the letter:

"For the purpose of the following general oi-ders, public eating-places shall be defined to include all hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, clubs, dining cars, and steamships and all places where cooked food is sold to be consumed on the premises.

"The following general orders have been issued by the Ignited States Food Administration governing the operations of all such public eating-places, these orders to be effective October 21, 1917. It has not been deemed advisable or necessai-y at the present time actually to license the operation of such public eatingplaces, but in cases where the patriotic co-operation of such public eating-places can not be secured by other means, the United States Food Administration will not hesitate to secure compliance with its orders through its control of the distribution of sugar, flour and other food supplies.

failure to conform to any of the following orders will be regarded as a wasteful practice forbidden by Section Four of the Food Control Act of August 10, 1917.

"General Order 1 - No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served any bi'ead or other bakery product which does not contain at least 20 per cent of wheat flour substitutes, nor shall it serve or permit to be served more than 2 ounces of this bread, known as Victory Bread, or if no Victory Bread is served, more than 4 ounces of other breads (such as corn bread, niufiins, Boston brown bread, etc.). Sandwiches or bread served at boarding camps, and rye bread containing 50 per cent or more of pure rye flour, are excepted.

"General Order 4 - No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to one patron at any one meal more than one kind of meat. For the purpose of this rule meat shall be considered as including beef, mutton, pork, poulti-y and by-products thereof."

"General Order 6 - No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to any one person at any one meal more than one-half ounce of butter.

"General Order 7 - No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to any one person at any one meal more than one-half ounce of Cheddar, commonly called American, cheese.

"General Order 8 - No public eating-place shall use or permit the use of a sugar bowl on the table or lunch counter. Nor shall any public eating-place serve sugar or permit it to be served unless the patron so requests and in no event shall the amount served to any one person at any one meal exceed one teaspoonful or its equivalent.

"General Order 9 - No public eating-place shall use or permit the use of sugar in excess of two pounds for every ninety meals se^ed, including all uses of sugar on the table and in cooking, excepting such sugar as may be allotted by the "Federal Food Administrators to hotels holding a bakery license. No sugar allotted for this special baking purpose shall be used for any other purpose.

"General Order 10 - No public eating-place shall burn any food or permit any food to be burned and all waste shall he saved to feed animals or reduced to obtain fats.

"General Order 11 - No public eating-place shall display or permit to be displayed food on its premises in any such manner as may cause its deterioration so that it cannot be used for human consumption.

"General Order 12 - No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served what is known as double cream or cream 'de luxe;' and in any event, no cream containing over 20 per cent of butter fat shall be served."

Of course, numerous other orders were issued from time to time. For instance, people were asked to reduce the amount of coffee used so that so many ships would not be needed for importing this staple. The same was true of tropical fruits.

Everyone was asked to devise ways for using all left-overs, and the gospel of the clean dinner plate was preached everywhere. Children were taught "to help lick the Kaiser" this way. As a result of the tremendous savings effected through the co-operation of all of our people, it was seldom necessary to ask the substitution of one foodstuff for another excepting in the case of wheat flour for bread. The rule became a general one: "Save all foods." One of the minor results of the Food Administration laws was a universal saving of money due to decreased budgets for the table. Another was a more general effort on the part of housewives to learn the relative food values of various dishes and plan their meals more intelligently from this standpoint.

Families got in the old fashioned habit of having- but one big meal a day. Suppers or luncheon frequently consisted of one or two dishes, such as soup, or salmon and a vegetable. Many housewives discovered the merits of a food made by boiling small pieces of meat with corn meal, and then serving this sliced when cold. Desserts became a rarity, almost extinct. Here are some of the recipes for bread issued by the government and used by almost all American families, although the methods were varied with practice:

Bran Bread "Soak 1 cake of compressed yeast in V4 cup of warm water and add to the following batter: % teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon molasses 114 cups cooled, scalded milk

"Boil milk and water and cool. Add molasses, salt and yeast mixed with a little cold water. Stir in flour and barley meal (or barley flour) which have been sifted together. Knead to a soft dough, adding more flour if necessary. Cover and let rise until the mix- turo is double its bulli. Knead a second time, form into loaves, place in well-greased pans and let rise a second time until the dough has doubled its bulk. Bake in a hot oven from one-half to one hour, the time depending on the size of the loaves.

Rye Bread "Use any method for white bread but be careful to use 2 cups of rye flour for each cup of wheat flour mentioned in the recipe. Rye bread should be softer than white bread but well kneaded. When light, form into loaves and allow to rise to double their size. Brush over with water and egg and bake in a slowei oven than for white bread.

% cup flour "Add rolled-oat mixture to sponge and then flour to make medium soft dough. Form into loaf and let rise to double its bulk and bake.

Cornmeal Bread "Use either white or yellow cornmeal. Proceed as in the case of rolled-oat bread. Substitute two teaspoons of sugar for molasses and use the same method.

"All the preceding recipes may be made into rolls. When the dough has risen the first time, form into rolls of desired shape and allow to rise until very light. Bake in hot oven. If desired, the amount of sugar and shortening used may be increased.

containing a pledge to conserve food, and these were kept on file so that in case of violation of the Food Act the culprit could be confronted with her previous promise and properly rebuked. Later on a food pledge insignia card was provided and this was displayed in the windows of homes where the pledge had been signed. Celluloid buttons were also provided which could be woi'n on the go\vn or coat lapel to signify the same thing.

In homes and hotels it was urged that the use of china, silver and table linen be limited so as to reduce labor. Rigid economy regarding ice was asked. This was especially true in the South. Ammonia, which is used for making artificial ice, was needed in the manufacture of munitions.

In all sections of the country, people were asked to eat local and seasonable foods, as these did not require abnormal use of railroads and steamships to transport them, at a time when all ships and cars were needed for war purposes. This was one of the factors in the popularity of the "war gardens" in back yards and vacant lots in all cities and villages.

In every home, the government Food Administration asked to have displayed the following rules and suggestions regarding conservation of food, and provided copies of them on printed cards for the purpose:

"Our problem is to feed our Allies this winter by sending them as much food as we can of the most concentrated nutritive value in the least shipping space. These foods are wheat, beef, pork, dairy products and sugar.

"Bread and cereals - Have at least one wheatless meal a day. Use corn, oat, rye, barley, or mixed cereal rolls, muffins, and breads in place of white bread certainly for one meal and, if posfiblc, for two. Eat less cake and pastry.

"As to the white bread, if you buy from a baker, order it a day in advance; then he will not bake beyond his needs. Cut the loaf on the table and only as required. Use stale bread for toast and cooking.

"Meat - Use more poultry, rabbits, and especially fish and sea food in place of beef, mutton and pork. Do not use either beef, mutton or pork more than once daily, and then serve smaller portions. Use all left-over meat cold or in made dishes. Use soups more freely. Use beans; they have nearly the same food value as meat.

The children must have whole milk, therefore, use less cream. There is a great waste of food by not using all skim and sour milk. Sour milk can be used in cooking and to make cottage cheese. Use buttermilk and cheese freely.

"Dairy butter has food values vital to children. Therefore, use it on the table as usual, especially for children. Use as little as possible in cooking. Reduce the use of fried foods to reduce the consumption of lard and other fats. Use vegetable oils, as olive and cottonseed oil. Save daily one-third of an ounce of animal fat. Waste no soap; it contains fat and the glycerine for explosives. You can make scrubbing soap at home, and, in some localities, you can sell your saved fats to the soap makei-, who will thus secure our needed glycerine.

"Use less candy and sweet drinks. Use less sugar in tea and coffee. Use honey, maple syi'up, and dark syrups for hot cakes and waffles without butter or sugar. Do not frost oi ice cakes. Do not stint the use of sugar in putting up fruits and jams. They may be used in place of butter.

"We have a superabundance of vegetables. Double the use of vegetables. They take the place of part of the wheat and meat, and, at the same time, are healthful. Use potatoes abundantly. Store potatoes and roots properly and they will keep. Use fruits generously.

General Suggestions

"You can yourself devise other methods of saving to the ends we wish to accomplish. Under various circumstances and with varying conditions you can vary the methods of economizing.

"The men of the Allied Nations are fighting; they are not on the farms. The production of food by these countries has therefore been greatly reduced. Even before the war it was much less than the amount consumed. The difference came from America and a few other countries. Now this difference is greater than ever and, at the same time, but little food can be brought in from the outside except from America.

"Therefore, our Allies depend on America for food as they have never depended befoi'e, and they ask us for it with a right which they have never had before. For today they are our companions in the great war for democracy and liberty. They are doing the fighting, the suffering, and dying - in our war.

"England, France, Italy, and Belgium, taken together, import in peace time forty per cent of their breadstuffs. But now, with their reduction in harvest, they must import sixty per cent. We must increase our normal export surplus of 88,000,000 bushels to 220,- 000,000 bushels. It can be done but in one way: by economizing and substituting. The people of the Allies can not substitute corn alone for bread, as we can. They are using other cereals added to wheat flour to make war bread, and can thus use up to twenty-five per cent of corn for wheat. We have plenty of corn to send them, but, except in Italy, whose people normally use it, our Allies have few corn mills, and corn meal is not durable enough to be shipped by us in large quantities. Moreover, the Allied peoples do not make their bread at home; it is all made in bakeries, and corn bread can not be distributed from bakeries. There is but one way: we must reduce our use of wheat. We use now an average of five pounds of wheat flour per person per week. The whole problem can be met if we will substitute one pound of corn or other cereal flour for one pound of wheat flour weekly per person; that is, if we reduce our consumption of wheat flour from five pounds a week to four pounds a week.

"The food animals of the Allies have decreased by 3.3,000,000 head since the war began ; thus the source of their meat production is decreasing. At the same time, the needs of their soldiers and war workers have increased the necessary meat consumption. Our meat exports to our Allies are now already almost three times what they were befoi'e the war. The needs of the .\llies will steadily increase, because their own production of food animals will steadily decrease because of lack of feed for them. If we will save one ounce of meat

"The decreasing herds and the lack of fodder mean a steady falling off in the dairy products of our Allies. They have been asking for larger and larger exports from us. Last year we sent them three times as much butter and almost ten times as much condensed milk as we used to send them before the war. Yet we must not only keep this level up, but do still better.

"Before the war France, Italy, and Belgium produced as much sugar as they used, while England di-ew most of its supply from what are now enemy countries. France and Italy are producing less than they need, while England is cut off from the source of seventy per cent of her usual imports. These three Allied countries must now draw 1,. 500, 000 tons more of sugar than they did before the war from the same sources from which we draw our supplies. We must divide with them. We can do it by economizing. The usual American consumption per person is just double that of France.

"Let us remember that every flag that flies opposite the German one is by proxy the American flag, and that the armies fighting in our defense under these flags cannot be maintained through this winter unless there is food enough for them and for their women and children at home. There can only be food enough if America provides it. And America

"The small daily service in substitution can be done by all; the saving in waste by the majority, and the lessening of food consumed by many. This individual daily service in 20,000,- 000 kitchens and on 20,000,000 tables multiplied by 100,000,000, which is the sum of all of us, will make that total quantity which is the solution of the problem."

The work of the Food Administration was completed when the work of bringing the American Expeditionary Forces back from overseas had gotten well under way. In February, 1919, the office of County Food Administrator was abolished and at that time Mr. Harvey sent the following letter to the tradesmen in Racine who had co-operated so willingly in the conservation of food, often at considerable loss to themselves:

"To the Bakers, Grocers, Hotels, Restaurants and Markets, whose business came under the jurisdiction of the United States Food Administration.

"On Aug. 10, 1918, the Congress of the United States passed the Food Act to encourage production, control distribution, and conserve supply, in order that all - rich and poor alike - might be assured a supply of the staple articles of food while we were at war.

"Such interference with business had never been attempted in this country before. Dealiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiililiillllllllillllllllllllllllliltillllllllrl

"The administration of the food laws was left to a Federal Food Administrator for each County. Some kind friend recommended me for appointment as Racine County Food Administrator and in Nov., 1917, I accepted that responsibility.

"I have now received instructions to close the office but before doing so, I wish to express to each of you my appreciation of the conscientious and patriotic effort you made at all times to carry out the rules of the Food Administration. You did this cheerfully and many times at a sacrifice of business and profits.

"During the year 1918, our stocks of wheat and sugar were inadequate to supply our armies and civilians with a normal quantity. The fighting men got their flour and sugar first; we divided what was left among our home folks, each taking a pound of substitutes with a pound of wheat flour and each one limiting to two pounds of sugar per month.

"The patriots smiled and claimed that substitutes improved their health; the selfish grumbled and protested, but we saved the flour and sugar and we won the war. We will not say that food won the war but we can say that the war could not have been won without food.

"The Food Administration taught the people to produce more food; to distribute it cai'efully to all alike and at much lower prices than would have prevailed without it; and to save food.

"Therefore, the Food Administration helped to win the war. My association with the Food Mei-chants of Racine County duiing the great war will be a pleasant memory. Yours sincei'ely,